In a city where everyone is hustling and determined to write their own success story, how about pausing and losing yourself in someone else’s story? That’s Shweta Tripathi’s advice for you. 

Over the past few months, the actor has been leaving books across Mumbai. Tucked inside each book is a handwritten note asking the stranger who discovers it to read it, enjoy it, and then leave it behind for someone else. A travelling book club, if you will.

When mid-day sat down with Tripathi, she said the idea was born from a simple thought — that people need to go back to reading in today’s age of information overload.

The actor reflected, “We’re constantly surrounded by other people’s opinions — what they’re thinking, eating, where they’re travelling, and so on. Reading is one of the few experiences where it’s just you and the book. It stretches your imagination, makes you question what’s right and wrong, and builds empathy because it allows you to experience lives completely different from your own.”

The seed for her public book-sharing initiative came after Tripathi read about actor Emma Watson leaving books around London as part of a reading movement. “I thought, why not adapt it? Whenever I travel in an Uber, I leave a book behind. If I’m at a café, an office, or an airport, I’ll leave one there with a handwritten note, asking the person who finds it to enjoy the book and then leave it somewhere else for another stranger. I love the thought of books travelling from one person to another, carrying not just stories, but moments of human connection,” she smiled.

Ironically, books weren’t always her first love. Growing up, she would be almost irritated by the reading culture at home. Finally, in her teens, a curious Tripathi picked up a book almost reluctantly. And then something happened. “It felt like I had discovered another universe,” she said, laughing. 

Soon, Nancy Drew books became an obsession. Then came The Da Vinci Code, followed by the Harry Potter series that she discovered when four books had already been released.

She recalled, “I still remember finishing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [the fourth book in the series]. Until then, there was always another Harry Potter waiting. Suddenly there wasn’t. I felt like my world had collapsed. I kept thinking, ‘Where are Harry, Hermione, Fred, and George?’ That’s what books do. They become your friends.”

Today, her reading habit is almost ritualistic. She is usually reading two or three books at a time. “When I’m reading, I absorb the emotional world of the book. When I was reading Shoe Dog, I felt so charged. While filming Mirzapur, I was reading The Forest of Enchantments, and Sita’s strength stayed with me throughout the shoot.”

She has her family to thank for inculcating the habit of reading. Even now, her father’s voice echoes in her head. “Papa always asked me two questions. ‘Did you exercise today?’ and ‘Which book are you reading?’ Back then I found it annoying. Today I realise those are probably the two most important questions you can ask someone you love,” she smiled.

- ‘Cock’ 

- ‘Kim Ji-young, Born 1982’

- ‘Women who Read are Dangerous’

- ‘Independence’

- ‘Invisible Women’ by Caroline Criado Perez 

- ‘Wonder’ by RJ Palacio

- ‘My Friends’ by Fredrik Backman

- ‘Powerful’ by Nirupama Subramanian 

- ‘Scripting Bollywood’ by Anubha Yadav

- ‘The Palace of Illusions’ by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni